20 AOUT 2000. - An Act to Enact the Agreement between the Belgian Economic Union and the Government of the Republic of Albania concerning the mutual encouragement and protection of investments, done in Tirana on 1^er February 1999 (1) (2) (3)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 77 of the Constitution.
Art. 2. The Agreement between the Belgian Economic Union and the Government of the Republic of Albania concerning the mutual encouragement and protection of investments, made in Tirana on 1^er February 1999, will release its full effect.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Nice on 20 August 2000.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
L. MICHEL
The State Secretary of Foreign Trade,
P. CHEVALIER
Seen and sealed the state seal:
Minister of Justice,
Mr. VERWILGHEN
____
Notes
(1) Session 1999-2000.
Senate.
Documents. - Bill tabled on 30 March 2000, no. 2-390/1. Report, no. 2-390/2. Text adopted by Commision No. 2-390/3.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion and voting. Session of June 8, 2000.
Room.
Documents. - Porjet transmitted by the Senate, no. 50-739/1. Text adopted in plenary and subject to Royal Assent, No. 50-739/2.
Annales parliamentarians. - Discussion. Session of June 23, 2000. Voting. Meeting of 6 July 2000.
(2) The exchange of instruments of ratification took place on 18 September 2002, in accordance with Article 14, this agreement entered into force on 18 October 2002.
(3) Decree of the Walloon Region of 12 July 2001 (Moniteur belge du 1^er August 2001 ed. 2); Decree of the Flemish Region of 7 December 2001 (Moniteur belge of 18 January 2002); Order of the Brussels-Capital Region of 25 May 2000 (Belgian Monitor of 24 November 2000).

AGREEMENT TO THE BELGO-LUXEMBOURGEOISE ECONOMIC MEETING AND THE GOVERNMENT OF ALBANIA REPUBLIC, CONCERNING ENCOURAGEMENT AND THE RECIPROVESTMENT PROTECTION
The Government of the Kingdom of Belgium,
acting on behalf of both the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, under existing agreements,
the Walloon Government,
the Flemish Government,
and the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region,
on the one hand,
and,
The Government of the Republic of Albania,
on the other hand,
hereafter referred to as "the Contracting Parties",
Desirous of intensifying their economic cooperation with a view to serving their long-term mutual interests,
Having the objective of creating favourable conditions for the realization of investments by nationals of one of the Contracting Parties in the territory of the other Contracting Party,
Recognizing that the promotion and protection of investments, through this Agreement, are likely to stimulate the initiative in this area,
agreed that:
Article 1^er
Definitions
For the purposes of this Agreement,
1. The term "investments" means any assets and any direct or indirect contribution to cash, in kind or in services, invested or reinvested in any sector of economic activity; It includes, but not limited to:
(a) movable and immovable property and other real rights such as mortgages, privileges, leases, usufructs and similar rights;
(b) shares, social shares and other forms of participation, whether minority or indirect, in companies incorporated in the territory of one of the Contracting Parties,
(c) loans, obligations, receivables and rights to any contractual performance of economic value;
(d) intellectual and industrial property rights, including copyright, trademark rights, registered names, patents, technical processes, know-how and trade funds;
(e) the rights conferred under the law or contract with a Contracting Party, including those relating to prospecting, exploration, development, culture, extraction or exploitation of natural resources,
as long as these assets are invested:
(I) in the Republic of Albania, in accordance with the laws and regulations of the latter and any written authorizations that may be required;
(ii) in the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, in accordance with their respective laws and regulations.
2. No change in the legal form in which assets and capital have been invested or reinvested will affect their investment quality within the meaning of this Agreement.
3. The term "investors" means:
- in relation to the Republic of Albania,
(a) any natural person who, according to the law of the Republic of Albania, has Albanian nationality;
(b) any legal entity incorporated in accordance with the laws of the Republic of Albania and having its head office in the territory of the Republic of Albania.
- in respect of the Belgian Economic Union,
(a) any natural person who, according to the law of Belgium or Luxembourg, is considered a citizen of Belgium or Luxembourg;
(b) any legal entity incorporated in accordance with the legislation of Belgium or Luxembourg and having its head office in the territory of Belgium or Luxembourg.
4. The term "income" refers to amounts generated by an investment, and in particular, but not exclusively, profits, interests, capital increments, dividends, copyrights or allowances.
5. The term "territory" means, for each Contracting State, the territory on which it exercises its sovereignty and the territorial sea, the continental shelf and the submarine zones, on which that Contracting State exercises, in accordance with international law, sovereign rights or jurisdiction.
Article 2
Investment promotion
1. Each Contracting Party shall encourage investment in its territory by investors from the other Contracting Party and admit such investments in accordance with its legislation.
2. In particular, each Contracting Party will authorize the conclusion and execution of licence contracts and trade, administrative or technical assistance agreements, provided that such activities have a relationship with investments.
Article 3
Investment protection
1. All direct or indirect investments made by investors of one of the Contracting Parties shall enjoy fair and equitable treatment in the territory of the other Contracting Party.
2. No Contracting Party shall submit the investment of investors of the other Contracting Party to a less favourable treatment than that granted to investment by its own investors or investment by investors of any other State.
3. No Contracting Party shall submit to investors of the other Contracting Party, with respect to the activities related to their investments in its territory, less favourable treatment than that granted to its own investors or investors of any other State.
4. Subject to the measures necessary for the maintenance of public order, the investments of investors of one of the Contracting Parties shall enjoy, in the territory of the other Contracting Party, total protection and security, i.e. excluding any unjustified or discriminatory measures that may hinder, in law or in fact, their management, maintenance, use, enjoyment or liquidation.
5. The treatment and protection defined in paragraphs 1^er in 4 of this Article shall not extend to the privileges granted by a Contracting Party to investors of a third State, by virtue of its participation or association in a free trade zone, a customs union, a common market or any other form of regional economic organization.
6. This Agreement does not extend to the privileges granted by one of the Contracting Parties to any other State under an agreement to avoid double taxation or any other tax agreement.
Article 4
Expropriation
1. Investments made by investors of one of the Contracting Parties shall not be expropriated, nationalized or subject to any other measure having effects similar to expropriation or nationalization in the territory of the other Contracting Party.
2. If public utility, security or national interest requirements justify an exemption under paragraph 1 of this section, the following conditions must be met:
(a) measures shall be taken by law;
(b) they are neither discriminatory nor contrary to a specific commitment;
(c) they have provisions for payment without delay of adequate and effective compensation.
3. The amount of the allowances will be the commercial value of the expropriated investments on the date immediately preceding the expropriation or the date on which it was made public, regardless of the first of these two dates.
Compensation shall be paid in the currency of the State to which the investor belongs or in any convertible currency. They will be paid without undue delay and will be feasible and freely transferable. In the event of a delay of more than one month from the date of fixing their amount, they will bear interest at the current bank rate up to the date of payment.
4. For substances regulated by this Article, investors of one of the Contracting Parties shall enjoy, on the territory of the other Contracting Party, the treatment of the most favoured nation. Such treatment would in no way be less favourable than that recognized by international law.
Article 5
Compensation
Investors of one of the Contracting Parties whose investments in the territory of the other Contracting Party would have suffered damage due to war or other armed conflict, revolution, state of national emergency, revolt, insurrection or riot in the territory of the other Contracting Party, benefit, on the part of the latter, from a treatment not less favorable than that granted to its own investors or investors of any other Contracting Party in that The resulting payments will be freely transferable.
Article 6
Repatriation of investment and income
1. Each Contracting Party shall ensure, with respect to investments made by investors of the other Contracting Party, the free and timely transfer of investments and their income.
Transfers will be made without delay, in the freely convertible currency in which the investment was made, or in any other freely convertible currency to be agreed between the investor and the Contracting Party concerned.
2. These transfers include, but not limited to:
(a) additional capital and funds to maintain or develop the investment;
(b) the benefits, interests, dividends and other current income of investments;
(c) funds for the reimbursement of loans;
(d) royalties and allowances;
(e) the proceeds of the total or partial sale or liquidation of the investment.
3. The nationals of each of the Contracting Parties authorized to work for an investment subject to the provisions of this Agreement in the territory of the other Contracting Party are authorized to transfer an appropriate quotity of their remuneration to their countries of origin.
4. Each of the Contracting Parties shall issue such authorizations as may be necessary to ensure without undue delay the execution of the transfers provided for in this Article, without any other charges than the usual fees and fees.
The guarantees provided for in this article shall be at least equal to those granted in similar cases to the most-favoured-nation investors.
Article 7
Change rates
1. The foreign exchange transfers referred to in this Agreement shall be effected:
(a) the exchange rates applicable to the date of transfer,
(b) in accordance with the regulation of exchanges in force in the State in which the investment was made.
2. These rates will in no way be less favourable than those granted to investors in the most-favoured nation, particularly under specific commitments under agreements or arrangements for investment protection.
3. In all cases, the rates applied will be fair and fair.
Article 8
Subrogation
1. If one of the Contracting Parties or a public body of the Contracting Party pays compensation to its own investors under a particular investment guarantee, the other Contracting Party recognizes that the rights of the indemnified investors are transferred to the Contracting Party or the public body concerned, in their capacity as insurer.
In the same way as these investors, and within the limits of the rights transferred, the insurer may, by subrogation, exercise the rights of such investors and assert the claims relating thereto.
The subrogation of rights also extends to the transfer rights and recourse to arbitration referred to in Articles 6 and 11.
These rights may be exercised by the insurer within the limits of the quotity of the risk covered by the guarantee contract, and by the investor who is the beneficiary of the guarantee, within the limits of the quotity of the risk not covered by the contract.
2. With respect to transferred rights, the other Contracting Party may apply to the insurer, which is subrogated in the rights of compensation investors, the obligations that are legally or contractually binding on the insurers.
Article 9
Special agreements
1. Investments that have been the subject of a particular agreement between one of the Contracting Parties and investors of the other Contracting Party shall be governed by the provisions of this Agreement and those of that particular agreement.
2. Each of the Contracting Parties shall at any time ensure compliance with its commitments to investors of the other Contracting Party.
Article 10
Disputes between contracting parties
1. Any dispute between the Contracting Parties relating to the interpretation or application of this Agreement shall be resolved, if possible, by diplomatic means.
2. If the dispute is not resolved by diplomatic means, the dispute shall be submitted to a joint commission composed of representatives of the two Parties; the Party shall meet at the request of the most diligent and without undue delay.
3. If the joint commission cannot resolve the dispute, it shall be submitted, at the request of either of the Parties, to an arbitration tribunal which shall, for each particular case, be constituted as follows:
Each Contracting Party shall appoint an arbitrator and these two arbitrators shall jointly appoint a national of a third State, who shall serve as president of the court. The arbitrators shall be appointed within three months, the President within five months of the date on which one of the Contracting Parties has communicated to the other Contracting Party its intention to submit the dispute to an arbitration tribunal.
If these deadlines have not been observed, one or the other Contracting Party shall invite the President of the International Court of Justice to make the required appointments.
If the President of the International Court of Justice is unable to exercise this function or is a national of either Contracting State, the Vice-President of the International Court of Justice will be invited to make the necessary appointments. If the Vice-President is unable to exercise this function or is a national of either Contracting State, the oldest member in the rank of the Court who is available and not a national of either Contracting State shall be invited to make the necessary appointments.
4. The court shall establish its own rules of procedure. Its decisions shall be taken by a majority vote; they shall be final and binding for Contracting Parties.
5. Each Contracting Party shall bear the costs associated with the designation of its arbitrator. The disbursements inherent in the designation of the third arbitrator and the operating costs of the court shall be borne by the Contracting Parties equally.
Article 11
Settlement of investment disputes
1. Any investment dispute between an investor of one of the Contracting Parties and the other Contracting Party shall be subject to a written notification, accompanied by a sufficiently dismantled aide-memoire on the part of the most diligent party.
Where possible, such dispute shall be settled amicably between the parties to the dispute or by diplomatic conciliation between the Contracting Parties.
2. In the absence of amicable settlement by direct arrangement between the parties to the dispute or by diplomatic conciliation within six months of receipt of the notification, the dispute shall be submitted, at the discretion of the investor concerned, either to the competent court of the Contracting Party concerned or to international arbitration.
3. In the event of recourse to international arbitration, the dispute is submitted to the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (C.I.R.D.I.), established by the Convention for the Settlement of Investment Disputes between States and Nationals of Other States, opened for signature in Washington on 18 March 1965.
To this end, each Contracting Party shall give its early and irrevocable consent that any investment dispute be submitted to the Centre for settlement by arbitration. This consent implies that they do not demand the exhaustion of domestic administrative or judicial remedies.
4. None of the Contracting Parties, a party to a dispute, shall raise any objection, either during the arbitration proceedings or during the execution of an arbitration award, as the investor of the other Contracting Party would have received an allowance covering all or part of the damage in accordance with an insurance contract.
5. The C.I.R.D.I. will decide on the basis:
- the domestic law of the Contracting Party party to the dispute in the territory of which the investment is located, including the rules relating to conflicts of laws;
- the provisions of this Agreement;
- the terms of the particular agreement possibly concluded with respect to the investment concerned;
- principles of international law.
6. The C.I.R.D.I. awards are final and binding for the parties to the dispute. Each Contracting Party undertakes to enforce the awards in accordance with its national legislation.
Article 12
Application of other rules
If the legislative provisions of one of the Contracting Parties or the obligations arising out of international law currently in force or contracted in the future by the Contracting Parties contain provisions of a general or particular character by which the investment of investors of the other Contracting Party shall be treated more favourable than that granted by this Agreement, investors of the other Contracting Party may avail themselves of the provisions that are most favourable to them.
Article 13
Previous investments
This Agreement also applies to investments made, prior to its entry into force, by investors of one of the Contracting Parties in the territory of the other Contracting Party in accordance with the legislation of the other Contracting Party.
Article 14
Entry into force, duration and denunciation
1. This Agreement shall enter into force thirty days from the date on which the Contracting Parties have exchanged their instruments of ratification. It remains in force for a period of ten years.
2. Unless one of the Contracting Parties denounces it at least six months before the expiry of its validity period, it shall be re-citally extended for a further ten-year period, each Contracting Party reserves the right to denounce it by a notification filed at least six months before the expiration date of the current validity period.
In faith, the undersigned representatives, duly authorized by their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement.
Made in Tirana, 1^er February 1999 in two original copies, each in French, Dutch, English and Albanian, all texts being equally authentic. The English-language text will be credible in the event of a discrepancy of interpretation.